Telling It As It Is

About Me

Hello, my name is Rachel. I was born and raised in Singapore until I was on the wrong side of 25, before I moved to London for 5 years, lived in Boston very briefly…and returned to Singapore for good. That is, until we decide to move again.

I started this blog to chronicle the big and small moments in our lives. I still write about the big and small moments in our lives. Some of my bigger moments have been featured on a couple of websites and platforms. I like to dress my food up a little and take pretty pictures of them; a few of my better food photos have been featured on Tastespotting and Foodgawker. I have also grown to love photography after blogging all these years and am slightly obsessed with composition, colours and stories. I met lots of lovely people in the blogosphere who are inspiring, talented and tenacious and I am thankful for friends like them.

I have a very loving family who supports me in everything I do and I cannot ask for more. I am inspired by my parents and siblings to love my husband and beautiful daughter in every way I can, and to carve out new traditions, such as cooking, baking, crafting, travelling and going on Sunday picnics with my little family.

The tiniest dreams in the biggest ways, yes, I have some of those even though I am a stay-at-home-mother now. I’m tucking them away in my private corner, and slowly paving way for them to come true. So, watch this space!

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To learn more about why I started writing at The Pleasure Monger, please check out my first entry.

Also, you can explore potential collaborative, advertising and charitable opportunities with me here. Please note that all sponsored opportunities are clearly stated at the bottom of the respective posts. Invitations to review relevant products and services are welcome; however, I reserve the right to decline invitations which may be unsuitable. I only recommend products and services that I would personally use, and I appreciate that one does not insist that I write a review. All opinions expressed are my own.

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47 thoughts on “About Me”

lol! at least your hubby dragged u to a nice location…..unlike where Simin and I are…….

and we both share the same sentiments as u lar……doing my PhD somehow makes me wanna do other things other than the PhD itself…., she doing her MSc……well….the crappy environment here really makes us both sick of the work we’re doing……and this is an irritating keyboard!!!!! because the Germans, for whatever illogical reasons, decide to change some positions of the keys………

Anyhows, I hope we’ll to be able to work one day…..its where i’d take my fashion photography to the next level..

Demo-er!!! Er…I mean demonstrator….lol. I think we should start a ‘Say No TO PhD’ campaign, and knock potential PhD-wannabes into senses. GAH. Less like researching, and more like character-building years, really. Hey, the keyboard in UK is sightly different too ok, though not as bad as the German and Belgium ones….

Ooh you planning to dabble in fashion photography full-time in future? Simin can be your full-time model!!

CONGRATULATIONS!!! I’m still struggling with Introduction and Discussion, and already I’m on the Say No To PhD campaign…can’t wait to submit mine, thanks for the well wishes, I’ll need ‘All the best’ I can get to get through this wretched thing.

How’s the laksa where you are? I’m also an expat wife. Lived in so many cities that I actually published a story called My Life As Luggage. You’re in a great city and looks like you’re making the best of where you are! Here’s to the adventures of life!
Cheryl

The laksa ain’t fab, but we make our own at home! I am partial to the tangy Penang laksa as my mum is from Penang. Awesome! Wow, you’re a true globetrotter, looking forward to your posts! Yes, cheers to adventures of life! =)

Hi antiqueshoes, lol, I don’t feel that dragged anymore, but I really did feel this way when I arrived, the culture is completely different and I missed being away from my family! I still miss them, but it has become more bearable =) Come visit London, lots of things to do here! And thanks for your well wishes!

Oh and I like to add that I enjoyed looking at your photos. You have a great eye for details when it comes to photography. I use the Lumix LX 3 camera too but somehow I’m not able to fully utilise the potential of the camera. Keep blogging, cooking and those lovely pictures coming in 2011. :)

Lady J: For my more recent cooking and baking posts, I used a DSLR. I only use the Lumix LX 3 for my older posts, and for my recent eating out and travel write-ups. Lumix is pretty good, but to get the quality of recipe-book-esque photos of food, you’ll have to use DSLR. I’ll keep blogging for as long as I’m inspired! Thank you so much for reading!

bookjunkie: Thank you dear, this makes me feel very encouraged. I’m still in infancy stages of learning the whole baking thing, so I’m not too ambitious right now. Just hope to keep baking and writing about what I love most.

|Thanks for your recent advice on snowsDSLR F1.4. what kind of budget DSLR camera would u suggest for beginners? I can sling my kodak digital camera to the british museum as the click button has kaput…

Ellen: I’m not too sure which are the budget ones, I got mine off a friend for a very low price, but I think it is an entry level one Nikon D5000. Perhaps you could swing by the stores and ask, or browse through photography magazines for a better idea? I don’t want to mislead you…Anyway, if you want to get a good lens, make sure it works with your camera body! You might want to buy the body first, before you get the lens.

Hi, Rachel! Stumbled by from the Singapore Brides forum (BV thread) during my wedding planning and have been stopping by occasionally since! I enjoy your writing and am very inspire by your good photography.

Also, thank you for sharing so much in your wedding planning series – Bridal Veil was indeed a dream wedding vendor, and I had customized M&Ms at my reception too!

Hi Mag! Thank you so much for your kind words. I am glad you enjoyed the series!! BV is just awesome, huh? And yay to getting your M&Ms! Was it difficult to get hold of them? I have a few brides who emailed me to say that the company doesn’t ship them to Singapore anymore?

Yes! Michelle is amazing, she gifted me the gown cos I liked it so much!

For the M&Ms, I used a freight-forwarding service which gave me a virtual US address, and paid them to forward my M&Ms back here (we have a few such services – vPOST, comGateway amongst other smaller players). I used comGateway and got a shipping discount with my DBS Card so if anyone faces such a constraint you can let them know, it’s a super useful service ;)

Hi ya,
I was searching the net for a chwee Kueh recipe when I came across your blog.. I’ve been inspired by your descriptive recipe to give it a go. I too love chwee Kueh since I was a wee little girl and its been one of dishes which I have yet braved trying out but I will give it a go now. Thanks and keep up the good work on your blog.

Regards
Annapoorani

P.s – I don’t know what is wheat starch but I reckon it’s just plain ol starch